BEFORE: I went a little crazy yesterday, scanning through cast lists of the films that are left on my watchlist. (Yes, it's still 200 films...) I found a bunch of linking opportunities that I was unaware of before, plus I figured out a way to link to the 4 superhero films I want to see in June or July, and pretty much determined the playlist for most of 2014. I think I left about 20 random films floating at the end of the list, but found a way to link to nearly everything else.
Of course, this is complete overkill, because every time I add a new film I think about where it will fit best into the line-up, and this can create new linking opportunities, but also destroy others. Plus it wouldn't hurt me to re-assess everything that's left after the Hitchcock chain anyway, because that list could bear little resemblance to the list's current form. Still, if there's an actor who's in more than one of the films on my list, I kinda want to know about that.
Linking from "Get Carter" (1971), Michael Caine carries over, but playing a different role.
THE PLOT: Jack Carter, a Vegas mob casino enforcer, returns to Seattle for the funeral of his brother after a car crash, and suspects it was murder.
AFTER: There is a certain benefit to watching two versions of the same film on successive nights, allowing me to spot the subtle differences between two interpretations of the same source material. Then again, there's a down side to this process as well, especially if the films are so much alike that I end up wondering why the film needed to be remade. I think this is a case of the latter situation.
What do I notice that's different about the 1971 British version and the 2000 American one? For starters, British people are just so much more polite. No, seriously, the film is all about a guy working his way up the criminal food chain to figure out who killed his brother, and this involves some shooting, stabbing and throwing people off of buildings - but the British Jack Carter is so CLASSY while doing that.
"Sorry, guvn'r, hate to be a bother, but I've got to be 'urling you off the roof right about now. Can't 'elp it, now, you didn't leave me much choice, eh wot?" OK, I'm exaggerating because there really was a minimum of dialogue in the British film - Michael Caine was one cool customer as he beat up the lower-level thugs. But damn, he made that look good.
By contrast, if you showcase an American strong, silent type, you get someone like Stallone, who's also a man of few words, but for entirely different reasons.
"Get Carter" (the original, at least) seems to be a film that demands that one pay close attention. When you see a car get pushed off the docks into the water, it might be a good idea to think back - wasn't there a scene earlier in the film where someone was forced to get into a car's trunk? You don't suppose, no they wouldn't...oh, yeah, they went there.
Plus I later read online how there was (apparently) a strong implication that Jack Carter's niece might not have been his niece, but his daughter instead. I guess I missed the memo on that one. But that lends an entirely different angle to the scene where he finds an adult film that she starred in, and can't seem to turn away from it. Ah, so THAT'S why he went on a rampage shortly thereafter. You know, I may need to revise yesterday's rating...
(ASIDE: They say you only need ONE good idea to succeed in this world, and here I may have stumbled upon one. Some kind of app or internet filter that cross-references your browser history with your contacts list, and makes sure that you never, EVER watch a pornographic video that features a friend or family member. Umm, unless you want to, I guess, you sicko. Sure, you may say there's no market for that - until you accidentally find out what your aunt and uncle are up to in their spare time online...call the app "Mental Floss" or something, and cut me in on the profits. Done.)
The Stallone version maintains the porn angle (which is a LOT more relevant in the age of the internet...) and all the violence of Carter's methods, and the only real thing that's changed is the ending. You can decide for yourself whether you want Carter's obsessive nature to lead to his own undoing. As they say about Shakespeare, you can tell if it's a tragedy by the body count at the end.
Statistically, I'm in a low-rated funk, and I need to find a way to climb out of it. Getting off this violent, revenge-fueled topic might help.
Also starring Sylvester Stallone (last seen in "Bananas"), Mickey Rourke (last seen in "Immortals"), Alan Cumming (last seen in "Goldeneye"), John C. McGinley (last seen in "Wagons East"), Miranda Richardson (last seen in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1"), Rachael Leigh Cook, Rhona Mitra, Johnny Strong, Gretchen Mol and the voice of Tom Sizemore (last seen in "Wyatt Earp")
RATING: 4 out of 10 gravestones
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